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Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

gizmodo.com

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Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#61

Post by resonanttoe »

vikingcaffiene wrote: post #59

I respect Woz and his contributions to computer science. Tbh tho every time I see an article like this it makes me scratch my head. It’s always something along the lines of “Woz says you should do something that has been old news and most anyone who would care is already doing or agrees with”. It’s not that he’s wrong. It’s just... why is this news? He’s just making a very safe statement for the audience being target…

It makes news for a couple of reasons. (and assuming this isn’t a rhetorical idealistic question about what is and isn’t news…)

1. He’s a notable technologist (or whatever term you’d prefer to use for someone who is seen as intrinsically linked with the rise of computation tech) 2. It’s Gizmodo, they’re not exactly looking for revolutionary stuff here. 3. It’s your standard confirmation bias as well. Most people who read the article probably already have fairly strong anti-facebook-usage feelings to begin with. This reaffirms their stance and belief by presenting someone who isn’t a dickhead as being on the same side.

All of the above leads to a click and a comment, which is good for the ol’ bottom ad-dollar :D.

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#62

Post by eska »

dymk wrote: post #39
eska wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're also light on social interaction. Compare: - Sending a post about your holiday experience to Facebook, vs. - Calling a friend, engaging in small-talk about your holiday experience and how they've been lately. Sure, you won't be able to tell all your 1276 "friends" about your holidays, but the people you do talk to will actually be/become your friends. It's quantity vs quality. Personally I've decided that it'…

> They're also light on social interaction. > Calling a friend, engaging in small-talk Do you see the irony here? The small-talk you're describing in a Facebook post is just as socially-anemic as the small-talk you'd have over the phone. If I want a deep conversation with somebody, I can message them on... FB messenger or something. Again, a form of communication easier to initiate than a phone call that they might n…

I don't see the irony. How is it "socially-anemic"? It is in my opinion obviously much more social to talk to somebody on the phone than to post something on Facebook. Even 1-to-1 chat as you mention is much more social (but loses an insane amount of nuance and emotion), but still much less so than a phone call (but I also chat of course).

Or do you consider everything that is not face-to-face "socially-anemic"? Are you saying that conversations via chat are deeper than on the phone?

With a Facebook post one is essentially just dumping a complete story on the masses for them to consume. It's not personalized and people cannot interact by asking questions in between, or by adding their own stories ("Oh, I loved that part of the movie! Did you also think it has a deeper meaning to it?", essentially steering the conversation into another direction), or show you that they don't want to hear about something, for example.

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#63

Post by nao360 »

Left 4 or 5 years ago for employer/work reasons. Had a couple of hundred friends, and a started few groups that accumulated thousands of members. Not surprisingly, everyone I mattered to managed to find me and reconnect via email, sms etc. I don’t miss it at all, and I’m happy I don’t waste time like that anymore!

Community argument is compelling, but there are so many ways for communities to stay in touch now. I don’t think it has to come at the cost of so many Facebook negatives (privacy, addiction, mental health, etc.)

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#64

Post by rubidium »

dangus wrote: post #11
Angostura wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For families? Our uses a mixture of e-mail, text/iMessage, iCloud photos and Dropbox

It's rather unrealistic to consider those alternatives enough to replace everything all the features contained within Facebook can accomplish. Facebook has discussion forums, rich messaging, groups and events, classifieds, image and video editing/enhancement, and many more features all bundled into one platform. You'd probably need 15 other websites and services to replace it. If we just had truly protective privacy…

The point is a family can do great without all that stuff. Mine does. We do big group texts. Does the job just fine with 16 of us on it.

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#65

Post by bduerst »

cols wrote: post #52

I just passed my two year anniversary with no FB, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat and I've never been happier. I convinced my wife to cut the cord about a year ago and she completely agrees. For me it was an addiction. I was compulsively checking FB many times an hour to stay caught up with people. This was after culling my friends list multiple times. Turns out, life goes on just fine without a constant water hose o…

Same, but I can attest that you can do it without deleting your accounts too - just delete the apps and remove bookmarks. I have family that still use social and removing myself would make it difficult for them since they like to post about us.

I don't think Woz's payment solution to "light" social interaction is not really feasible though.

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#66

Post by jadbox »

dbingham wrote: post #8

The thing that holds me to Facebook is that it's become the town square for my local community. It's where people go to discuss the community's political challenges. So many important dialogs about local issues happen on Facebook, and it's the only real way to be a part of those conversations. Things like zoning, planning, city and county budgeting, ordinances, and so on. If I leave, not only do I lose the ability to…

>The thing that holds me to Facebook is that it's become the town square

Yep, but most social platforms are not really tuned to being a town square, and instead are optimized for feeds and stirring emotions. They often rewarding behavior that's counterproductive to finding common ground. We need platforms like DinnerTable.chat [1] that is built around the idea of bringing people together across the spectrum and localities. DTC is an open community-driven live discussion platform that matches you one-on-one with others to playfully challenge perspectives, while unlocking achievements. It's been my passion project for the last two years, and since beta, we've been growing steadily.

[1] https://dinnertable.chat/about

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#67

Post by vuln »

hinkley wrote: post #60
ej12n wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nextdoor comes to mind, but not necessarily a local online town square which I agree with your comment that a source like that is invaluable to keep up with local issues.

I've seen too many stories of people discovering their neighbors are racist/classist assholes on Nextdoor to want to participate. Leave me a few illusions about the inherent goodness of people.

Must be a geographical issue. I’m very active on next door and I’ve never seen such behavior. Sure there are a few spats like recently about fireworks but I’ve never witnessed anything “racist” or “classist”. I understand this is anecdotal, my experience might not match others.

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#69

Post by sdegutis »

nao360 wrote: post #63

Left 4 or 5 years ago for employer/work reasons. Had a couple of hundred friends, and a started few groups that accumulated thousands of members. Not surprisingly, everyone I mattered to managed to find me and reconnect via email, sms etc. I don’t miss it at all, and I’m happy I don’t waste time like that anymore! Community argument is compelling, but there are so many ways for communities to stay in touch now. I don…

The community argument isn't actually compelling. It creates "ghost-like" relationships, where you don't really know someone anymore and haven't for years, but act like you're still best friends, with occasional empty comments or likes. It's like eating cotton candy for dinner and acting like you have the energy a good steak would have given you. Many of them don't have email though, and phone chats are often difficult to coordinate. I think occasional visits is probably the best way to keep in touch with people you don't live near and thus see regularly. And if neither of you can manage to schedule that, then maybe there's no real connection there after all.
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